Investigation reveals unsafe home gas appliances

The investigation revealed five per cent of gas appliances in Chester homes are unsafe

AN INVESTIGATION into the safety of gas appliances in Chester homes has revealed five per cent are unsafe.

Gas Safe Register has launched an online map to help people identify the region’s most dangerous and safest areas when it comes to gas.

Thousands of gas appliances have been inspected over the last 12 months, including more than 300 in the Chester area, with Crewe having the highest risk with 17 per cent of appliances deemed to be dangerous.

Five per cent of appliances inspected in Chester were found to be unsafe having been worked on by unregistered gas engineers with the majority of those appliances being boilers.

Gas Safe Register chief executive Paul Johnston said: “There have been a number of high profile gas incidents in the North West over the last year, but people may still think dangerous gas appliances can’t affect them.

“The gas map pinpoints the specific area you live in and will highlight whether gas appliances in your area are regularly found to be unsafe by our team.

“We hope that these findings will make the public realise how important it is to get their gas appliances regularly checked.”

The online map can be found at www.silentkiller.co.uk and lets people check if the area they live in is at risk from dangerous gas appliances. It advises what they can do to keep themselves safe from gas risks such as explosions, fires, leaks and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Users enter their postcode into the website and this will bring up a map of their local area, showing how dangerous it is when it comes to gas.

People can also sign up for a free annual gas safety reminder, which will ensure they don’t miss out on keeping themselves safe and can book their annual safety check with a local registered engineer.

The tool also enables people to find a Gas Safe registered engineer in their area.